The Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly -- also known as PACE -- has come to Central Florida.
An InnovAge PACE center on South Orange Blossom Trail will provide older people who are dual-enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid with coordinated, comprehensive health care and more.
PACE programs are funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and paid by the state through Medicaid. The program pays on a per-person basis and offers "a comprehensive range of care and services to enable elderly individuals to continue living safely within their communities for as long as possible," according to an analysis published by the National Institutes of Health.
The authors -- Carla T. Williams and Soumya Chandrasekaran -- said the program is "widely recognized as the gold standard of community-based integrated care for older adults with chronic illnesses."
It has been around for decades. But in the past few years, new PACE centers have been opening around Florida, including many that are in the middle of the approval process.
Among the new ones is InnovAge’s PACE center in Tampa and now this one in Orlando.
It will have the full range of Medicaid and Medicare services -- at home and in the center -- for seniors who otherwise might need to go to a nursing home. Participants can come from Orange, Osceola, Lake and Seminole counties, anywhere within an hour's drive for the center's buses.
InnovAge operates PACE centers in six states, President and CEO Patrick Blair said. He was at a grand opening ceremony in Orlando Wednesday.
Blair said InnovAge has begun to enroll participants there. But the process for each individual requires state approval and can take 45 to 75 days.
A monthly state report shows that the Orlando center has 250 "approved slots." The center has a capacity of 1,300.
"I hope it becomes a community hub for seniors who are struggling with their independence and their families are struggling with helping them maintain their independence," Blair said, "a place where people can come that feel a sense of belonging and a sense of support throughout the remainder of their lives."
He described PACE as "probably the flagship of U.S. government-sponsored health care programs aimed at ... helping someone age in place, helping them receive the services they need, both in the home and in the community, in our center, to ensure they can live independently with support."
The state report lists 23 PACE programs, with 12 operational. The rest have applications pending. Among those is an application from Beacon of Life, which is approved to serve up to 150 people in Volusia, Flagler, and Seminole counties.
As of March 1, the reports said 2,765 people were currently enrolled in PACE programs in Florida. But, overall, PACE centers had funding available for 6,334 participants.
Andy Gardiner, the senior vice president for external affairs with Orlando Health, says the Orlando PACE center addresses a need identified in their community assessment.
[A]t the top of the list is access to care," he said. "A lot of people think that's a hospital setting, but it's not. It's access to care outside of a hospital setting."
Orlando Health is a partner with the center. Gardiner said it will be a resource the health care system can share with families and some patients when they are discharged.
InnovAge is seeking to raise awareness about what Blair calls the "best kept secret in health care."
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